Flick Bait
YouTube channels in 2017]] Flick Bait was a weekly comedy web series released on the Screen Junkies YouTube channels in 2017. It was a panel show featuring four hosts who humorously broke down that week's news stories and performed comedy segments. Viewers voted on the winning segment each week. Flick Bait episodes were typically 30 - 45 minutes long. 21 episodes were published, all in 2017. The show was hosted by Dan Murrell, Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr and Andy Signore. Flick Bait was streamed live every Friday at 4pm PST via YouTube. It was initially published on Screen Junkies News, but later moved to Screen Junkies main. Flick Bait was ostensibly created to satirize click bait culture, though it's debatable whether it ever actually achieved this aim. It had an informal, often farcical vibe. Part of the show's appeal was the frequent clumsiness of the hastily-thrown-together comedy bits. None of the hosts knew anything about each other's comedy bits until they were performed live during the show. The hosts frequently ridiculed one another for their ineptitude. Flick Bait was easily the most divisive show in the history of Screen Junkies, for both viewers and hosts alike. Format * Trigger Warning/Cold open - Episodes of Flick Bait typically started with a short bit which aimed to present a ludicrous news story as fact, before immediately declaring it false. In later episodes, this bit was replaced by a facetious "trigger warning" that informed viewers the hosts were tired and/or drunk, and instructed viewers not to take the show seriously. * Introduction - the main host (usually Andy Signore) explained the premise and structure of the show. The other hosts usually took this opportunity to comment on the show's incredibly muddled intentions. * That week's news stories/Group game inspired by a news story - early episodes feature casual discussions of some especially ludicrous entertainment news stories from that week. The hosts riffed on, and humorously critiqued the news stories. Later episodes dropped the news round-up and instead featured a group game inspired by a prominent news story. performs his comedy bit, as the heavily-cocained studio exec, 'Hollywood']] * Each host performs a comedy segment - There were four segments per episode. Segments varied wildly. Some were trivia/parlor games, others were judged competitions, some were live comedy sketches, some were performance art pieces, some involved costumes and/or props, others were pre-recorded videos. Whatever the segment, the other hosts generally mocked it relentlessly, especially if it failed miserably. In many episodes, the hosts had buzzers that they would use to "gong out" their colleagues in case of a poor performance. The main host also occasionally checked the live chat and read out viewer comments. * Voting - in early episodes, a Twitter poll was put up live at the end of the show and a winner was declared in the show itself. In later episodes, the Twitter poll (or YouTube icard poll) was left up for a week and the winner was announced in the next episode. The weekly Flick Bait champion was awarded the Flick Bait belt: an over-sized novelty belt meant to resemble a wrestling belt. The belt was absent from several episodes - not for any creative reason, just because the hosts lost it. * Trailer was a regular part of Flick Bait]]Honest Trailers Trailer - each episode ended with a short snippet of next week's Honest Trailer and a short discussion about it. Evolution of Flick Bait Across its short 21 episode run, Flick Bait evolved dramatically. Early episodes included deliberately misleading titles to parody how news outlets twist facts into sensationalist headlines, for example "Guardians of the Galaxy no longer part of the MCU!". However, many viewers thought the titles were legitimate, and thus expressed outrage that the show was manipulative and disingenuous. The titles of Flick Bait episodes were occasionally modified heavily after being posted, seemingly in an effort to stem the tide of angry viewers who were legitimately click-baited by the video. Early episodes also devoted a substantial amount of time to discussing that week's news stories before each host did their comedy bit. As the show evolved, the titles changed. Later episodes had click-bait-style headlines, but did not deliberately mislead viewers, for example, "50 Actors Who Shouldn't Play The Joker." ''In addition, later episodes gradually reduced the amount of time devoted to discussing news stories, until eventually that aspect of the show was removed entirely. Instead, later episodes of the shows began with a group game inspired by a news story, before proceeding into each hosts' comedy segments. Around this same time, the show 'Screen Junkies Universe (SJU)' moved to YouTube, became a daily show, and increasingly took on aspects of ''Flick Bait's casual, fun approach to entertainment news. In August 2017, Joe Starr discussed the evolution of Flick Bait in a podcast interview with Billy Business. In the interview, Joe explained that no one at Screen Junkies fully realized Flick Bait was essentially a sketch comedy show at the beginning. Joe said the hosts were figuring out what approach and mentality the show required as they went along. In the same interview, Joe also said he thought Screen Junkies needed to better educate the audience on what the show actually was: "I can see why it’d be jarring for the audience to be, like, we’ve gone from Movie Fights to, like, the performance art thing like I did with Danielle." In the podcast, Joe also spoke about how the failure of his first jelly bean sketch set a weird tone for the rest of the series: That very first show I was like, "Oh I have this very simple, structured game that I, indeed, just played last week with my family, and, oh it was a hoot!" And then, it, like, just derailed immediately .... I think for me, as a comedian, that set a tone for me on that show that I wasn’t really thrilled with, where it’s like, “Joe’s the funny fuck up!” No, I’m not. I’m pretty fucking good at this. That’s why I’ve got a job. So then the narrative for me was, “Oh, what bullshit’s Joe gonna try to do?” and, like, nothing was really able to, like, get rid of that. This is an interesting sort of industry for comedy. ... The simplest sentence or, like, fail in a video can, like, write your narrative for, like, a wide, wide swathe of people. ... If we gong out one of the other guys that creates the narrative that they fucking suck. And with an internet crowd it sticks. And then all of a sudden, that becomes a part of your brand and your identity even outside of this. Which I sort of started to get, like, weird and alarmed by. ''(Business Casual: Joe Starr Interview, August 11, 2017, Podcast) Though ''Flick Bait was ostensibly created to satirize click bait culture, it's debatable whether it ever actually achieved this aim or merely propagated click bait culture. The show's muddled objective is best summarized by the show itself in the meta Honest Trailer for Flick Bait: "Watch Spencer, Dan, Andy and Joe as they kinda cover the news, but also make fun of it, but also legitimately click bait you, but do it ironically? How does this show work again? Eh, whatever." Popularity Flick Bait was easily the most divisive show in the history of Screen Junkies. The core Screen Junkies fanbase loved the show, and many fans have been begging for its return ever since it ceased production. In particular, fans adored the show's informal atmosphere, which often involved the hosts drinking beer while taping the show. In contrast, general viewers detested the show. Compared to Screen Junkies' other shows, Flick Bait was poorly-viewed. In addition, every episode of Flick Bait was down-voted relentlessly on YouTube, and Screen Junkies lost subscribers every time a new episode was uploaded. For the hosts, Flick Bait was also a mixed experience: the hosts appreciate the many aspects of the show that worked, but found the overall experience draining. The hosts of Flick Bait were also the writers of Honest Trailers; Flick Bait demanded many hours of additional work on top of their already packed work load. In cases where the hosts simply didn't have enough time to create a segment, they were forced to ask co-workers to assist, which impacted their colleagues' work. Cancellation An episode of Flick Bait was due to be streamed on Friday October 6, 2017, the day the allegations of sexual misconduct perpetrated by Screen Junkies boss Andy Signore surfaced on Twitter. The episode was never taped and the show ceased production entirely. Moreover, all episodes of Flick Bait were deleted from YouTube within two days of Signore's termination, seemingly because some of them contained comedy bits that appeared dubious in light of the allegations made against Signore. In 2018, Joe Starr and Dan Murrell commented on why Screen Junkies stopped making the show: The main reason Flickbait ended is that it had started to take too much of our work week, and didn’t hit the view count to justify it. Spencer, Dan, and I were often putting HT levels of time in, and our producers and other writers were getting roped in constantly to help folks that couldn’t pull off material weekly make their segments. Not enough juice for the squeeze. (J. Starr, Reddit) Just to piggyback on Joe’s statement - another reason we chose to stop doing the show (in addition to the crazy workload) was that, while Flickbait was popular amongst our core fans, the general audience often didn’t get what we were doing and hated the show. We actually lost subscribers every single time we did the show. '' (D. Murrell, 'Reddit) Screen Junkies have no plans to bring the show back, however, the Flick Bait character "Scoops McGee" did reappear in the 'Movie Fights Live Extravaganza '''in May 2018. In addition, the hosts occasionally refer to Scoops on 'Screen Junkies Universe (SJU),' '''and have raised the possibility of ''Flick-Bait-style comedy segments being incorporated in SJU in the future. List of Flick Bait episodes Ep 1: Guardians CHRIS PRATT Leaks SNOKE’S IDENTITY Star Wars - The Last Jedi?!? Streamed: May 12, 2017. Segments: * Nerdy ASMR – Andy's segment. Iron Man takes a shower. Andy whispers soothingly into the mike and pours water through a colander for effect. The Hulk calls mid-shower to join in. *Meatball Wall: Buca di Screen Junkies – Dividied By Fate, Part 1: A Case for Justice - Spencer's segment. Spencer rallies the other hosts to eat a large meatball at Buca di Beppo Italian Restaurant in order to bump off puppeteer Terry Fator from the restaurant's celebrity wall of fame * Rumor Has It – Dan's segment. A game where the hosts have to guess whether various false news stories were legitimately reported on the internet * IMDb User Review Word Vomit - Joe's segment. The hosts must read angry IMDb user reviews while eating vomit-flavored jelly beans Ep 2: ALICIA SILVERSTONE IS JOSS WHEDON'S BATGIRL?! Streamed: May 19, 2017 Segments: * Movie vs Movie: YouTube edition - Spencer's segment featuring special guest John Flickinger. The hosts vote on which YouTube clip to watch in full, in the categories of bad acting, general weirdness, and porn. * Outrage – Joe's segment. The hosts are randomly assigned nerd rage topics and compete with one another to see who can get the angriest. Judged by Sasha Perl-Raver, Jay Washington and Matt Key * Scoops McGee – Dan's segment. The first appearance of shady film journalist Scoops McGee, who regularly hides in dumpsters and files lawsuits in the state of Nevada to get the best entertainment scoops in town! This episode's scoops: Ben Affleck Bags Bat Brother?! Poe Dameron Courts Avatar’s Cameron?! Fat Falls Flat After Bat Spat?! * Die Hard With A Vengeance’s 22nd Anniversary – Andy's segment. An overly elaborate bit where Andy is manipulated by an evil German gamemaster into wearing a sandwich board that reads “I HATE COMICS” outside a comics shop, and various other things. Ep 3: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY NO LONGER PART OF THE MCU?! Streamed: May 26, 2017 Segments: * One Word Movie Game - Dan's segment. Dan plays series of one word audio clips taken from movies. The others had to buzz in with the name of the movie they were from. * Uber Driver Trivia – Andy's segment. Andy asked an Uber driver (Hasan) a series of movie trivia questions. The other hosts guessed whether Hasan would get the questions wrong or right. Hasan was a fan and Screen Junkies Plus subscriber. * Rise of Evil Sheldon - Spencer's segment. Spencer decides the world is so terrible, it's time to summon the anti-Christ. He puts on a hooded robe and performs a ritual, which involved the others shouting Ba! Zing! Ga! This triggers a video clip which is footage from the sitcom Young Sheldon spliced with clips from horror movies. Most of the video is harmless, however at one point it depicts the graphically violent "Squeal like a pig" rape scene from the 1972 film Deliverance, ''ostensibly for laughs. * Joe’s Script Table Read - Joe's segment. Joe asks the others to do a cold read of his new screenplay ''Max Drake: Island of Shadows. ''Dan plays Max, Andy plays the Captain, and Spencer plays everyone else, including: Robo Croc Hunter, an Australian robot: Ellie Toot Toot, a giant talking elephant wearing a cop uniform who is also Max's love interest; and Miss Mittens, a small kitten who's also in heat. Ep 4: HAWKEYE IS GETTING HIS OWN SOLO MOVIE?! Streamed: June 2, 2017 Segments: * Theme Song Remix – Andy's segment featuring Flula Borg. Flula plays a beat and creates loops using the theme song and quotes from famous movies, as suggested by the other hosts. They make the ''Star Wars song ("I hate sand"), the Indiana Jones song ("Unlimited Power/Unlimited Porn"), the Godfather song ("Dead Horse"), and the Flick Bait song, ("We Got Scoops, Mother Trucker!"). * Honest Scene – Spencer's segment. Spencer Gilbert and Lon Harris recreate the Catwoman basketball scene without the benefit of fancy camera work or editing. Spencer plays Halle Berry with kittenish enthusiasm. They get shut down by the cops mid-shoot, but continue filming illegally on their iPhones. * ASMark Wahlberg – Dan's segment. Dan says the world is a scary place and viewers need a soothing voice to break bad news to them. Dan Murrell impersonates Mark Wahlberg doing ASMR, whilst reading the day's bad news stories including, giant sloth bones were found in L.A., climate change is happening, and a man in England got high on skunk and cut off his own penis. * 5 Minute Dungeons and Dragons – Joe's segment. Joe instructs the others to put on fantasy character costumes and play an abbreviated version of D&D. The others attempt to derail the quest at every opportunity. Spencer’s character has sex with a gyrocopter (while Andy watches) and a horde of skeletons. Unfortunately, the dice roll means the skeletons are “only sorta into it.” The game culminates with Andy suggesting they all have sex with each other, only the dice roll means no one's really into it and it's just awful. Ep 5: MARVEL AND DC TEAM UP FOR SUPERMAN?! Streamed: June 9, 2017 Segments: * Honest Chrome Extension – Spencer's segment. He shows off a chrome extension that changes various nerd terms into their “honest” equivalent: Screen Junkies becomes "Marvel Junkies"; Honest Trailers becomes "Whiney Nitpicks"; Comments becomes "Your Dumb Opinions"; and Matt Damon becomes "A Baked Potato." * Scoops McG - Andy's segment. Andy performs as the chillest bro with the sickest scoops. McG plays an air horn repeatedly, applies excessive amounts of Axe body spray, and is very keen on a Brett Ratner-helmed remake "Dude, Where's My Vape Pen?" * Posterize It - Dan's segment. In this game, Dan has zoomed far in on several famous movie posters until they are nearly unregonizeable. The others must buzz in and guess the name of the movie poster. * Performance Review - Joe's segment featuring special guest Danielle Radford. Joe puts on red shades and a scarf then reads movie reviews while Danielle dances seductively to jazzy music. A series of random images fade over the shot: clouds, airplanes, a woman playing saxophone for no apparent reason, and a flock of turkeys waddling around in a circle. Ep 6: AVENGERS TO TEAM UP WITH AQUAMAN?! (Also known as "Aquaman + Avengers") Streamed: June 16, 2017 Segments: * Collateral Beauty: The Game – Spencer's segment. A multiple choice trivia game based on the notoriously bad film Collateral Beauty. * Naturally, I’m Angry - Dan's segment. Dan over-analyzes every aspect of a recently released clip of Transformers: The Last Knight. ''Every since detail sends him into a ballistic rage: Anthony Hopkin's mumbling, Mark Wahlberg's Boston/Texas accent, and most especially Jimmy Fallon's excessive enthusiasm for obvious crap. * 40 Christmas Pitches in 5 Minutes – Joe's segment featuring special guest Matt Key. Lifetime has reportedly produced 33 Christmas movies for one single Christmas season. Joe bets Flick Bait can do better, and challenges the others to pitch 40 Christmas Movies in 5 minutes. The hosts take turns thinking up Christmas movies off the top of their head while Matt Key cheers them on. The early pitches vaguely resemble Christmas movies (Elves move to the South Pole! Christmas in June: It's ''A Hot, Hot Christmas! Starbucks finally declares war on Christmas: Clash of Cappuccinos!), but the bit rapidly descends into meta madness as the hosts pitch movies about how much they hate Joe for making them do this (Movie pitch: Joe has an improv background and his co-workers don't. It's called What a Dick!). * Andy Sweepfloor – Andy's segment. Andy was absent and a straw broom was propped up in his place. The broom did absolutely nothing. Best. Andy. Segment. Ever! Ep 7: MAN OF STEEL DECLARED BEST FILM OF ALL TIME?! Streamed: June 23, 2017 Segments: * British Spencer - Spencer's segment. Spencer bailed on his original bit taped at 4am in a London hotel room, so invoked the "mystery box" segment prepared by Billy Business and Lon Harris. Spencer's mystery box challenge was to commentate on movie posters, in his best British accent. British Spencer found a picture of penguins.... stimulating, to say the least. * Andy in Middle-Earth – Andy's segment. While in New Zealand, Andy went on a tour of some locations used to film The Lord of The Rings. Along with Mike the Guide and Matt from Weta, Andy recreated the "Get off the road!" scene. performs as Roast Bot.]] * Roast-Bot - Hal's segment. Hal donned a robot costume and roasted the latest movie releases. In Roast Bot's opinion, Transformers and Car 3 ''were rather lubricating cinematic experiences. * Our Savior Scoops McGee - Dan's segment. Fresh from his most recent sojourn in a dumpster, Scoops poured tiny plastic scoops onto the desk and regaled the others with Hollywood's hottest scoops: Bay Makes Hay of Dr Dre Payday? Ford's In Feud of Face Flick Free-For-All? Travolta and Cage Happily Engaged? Ep 8: FANT4STIC 2 IS HAPPENING AFTER ALL?! Streamed: June 30, 2017 Segments: * 365 "Dear Ally" ''The Notebook Letters – Spencer's segment. In The Notebook, Ryan Gosling's character Noah claims to have written Rachel McAdams's character Ally a letter every day for a year. The hosts read out a series of these letters. At first, they are sweet and romantic, but as time goes on they become deranged. Eventually Noah is writing lengthy essays on the merits of Philips head and flat head screws, and sending Ally his pubes. Also, he may be a racist serial killer. * Is Bane The Father? - Jay Washington's segment. Jay puts on a Bane mask and frees the people of Screen Junkies from the oppressive rule of dictator Andy Signore. His revolution is regrettably interrupted by a series of lawyers serving him with multiple paternity test papers. The bit ends with Bane promoting safe sex. * Are They American? – Dan's segment. A game where the hosts have to guess whether various celebrities are American citizens or not. The game is harder than it appears because many overseas-born actors have taken US citizenship at some point in their careers. * “Ditty” Movie Quotes - Andy's segment. Using an app suggested to him by Devin Murphy, Andy turns famous movie quotes into musical ditties. The other host must guess which movie they're from. * Bonus segment: Blind Movie Trailer. Dan provides live audio description for the trailer for Blind, starring Demi Moore, Alex Baldwin and Dylan McDermont, while Jay and Andy are blindfolded. Ep 9: ANDY SERKIS SLIPS AND REVEALS SNOKE'S IDENTITY?! Streamed: July 7, 2017. The final episode streamed on the Screen Junkies News channel. Segments: * The Big Sick - Andy's segment. A game where Spencer, Dan and Joe draw various movie diseases out of a hat. Because US healthcare is so poor, Andy can only afford to cure one of them. They must persuade Andy why their disease is the worst. * Flicktionary - Joe's segment, featuring Danielle Radford. Pictionary for summer movies. Dan and Danielle compete against Spencer and Andy. The winners are awarded the exclusive prize of one back rub courtesy of Ken Napzok. * Spider-Man, Minions or Cars – Dan's segment. A game. Dan bought 10 branded supermarket items including cheese, paper towels, wet wipes and goldfish crackers. The others must guess whether they are sponsored by Spider-Man, Minions or Cars. * Flick Bait Choose Your Own Adventure – Spencer's segment. An extremely meta computer game about a Screen Junkies employee coming to work on Friday and preparing a last-minute Flick Bait segment. Highlights of your day include enduring one of Joe's lengthy speeches about wrestling, drinking the horrible Screen Junkies coffee, and literally crapping your pants when Andy screams at you. Ep 10: IS FANTASTIC FOUR JOINING INFINITY WAR? Streamed: July 14, 2017. First episode on Screen Junkies main channel. Segments: * ''Honest Trailer Flick Bait ''- Dan's segment. The Honest Trailer for Flick Bait, narrated by Jon Bailey. The trailer highlights the show's confusing mandate and the poor quality of the comedy bits. It also mocks Screen Junkies for putting Dan, Spencer, Joe and Andy on yet another panel show. in a Spider-Man costume)'' ]] * ASMR Spider-Man - Andy's segment featuring special guest Tony Revolori. Andy makes Dan, Spencer and Joe put on blindfolds, then soothingly narrates Peter Parker making a very sexy sandwich for Flash Thompson. Andy assures the others he won't touch them, but Spencer jokes he should probably be ready to call Defy HR at any moment. Andy repeatedly shoots silly string at the others. Spencer jokes that Andy is a rapist. * Kermit the Frog Audition - Spencer's segment. A recent news story has revealed that the voice of Kermit the Frog is retiring. Spencer dons a Kermit costume and auditions for the part. Part of his audition is a scene n which Kermit pimps out Miss Piggy to Andy at a strip club. Kermit randomly pulls a gun on Andy, then finishes with a song that describes the biology of frog sex. * Constructive Criticism - Joe's segment. A game. Joe went back through the Screen Junkies comments to find mean comments about all four hosts. The others must guess who each comment is about. Comments include: Dan's style is that of an 8-year-old 90's kid; Spencer is overrated and pompous; and Joe is a massive scrotum. Meanwhile, Ken Napzok gives Spencer and Andy a lotion-heavy back rub. Ep 11: Jared Leto's Joker Kills Harley Quinn?!? Streamed: July 21, 2017. Streamed live from San Diego Comic Con 2017. Segments: * Cosplay competition – Andy's segment. The hosts must guess who various Comic Con attendees are dressed as. All the attendees are wearing niche cosplay such as 'Steampunk Beetlejuice', 'Hula Harley Quinn', 'Chewie's Angels' and 'Wonder Chicken'. * Sully 2: Air Blood teaser trailer - Spencer's segment. Spencer purports to have stolen an exclusive teaser trailer from Hall M - the sequel to Sully. The clip is a montage of several movies set on planes including the original Sully, Con Air, Air Force One and Airplane! * Script Reading: Max Drake 2 – Joe's segment, featuring special guest Sarah the fan. Joe asks the others to read a script for Max Drake 2 out loud. Sarah plays Grace Sapphire, twin sister of Max Drake, the world's greatest cop. Spencer plays her grievously wounded fiancee Chad, a character fixated on his modestly-proportioned penis and his recently acquired impotence. * Scoops McGee - Dan's segment. Scoops first time at Comic Con -- legally, that is! Scoops is abuzz from the 3 shots of tequila he did with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress Ming Na, but he has time for 3 scoops: From Panic Room to Doctor Doom? Warner Scrambles Over Batman Scatman Scandal? Marvel Booms Makes Toons Swoon? Ep 12: YONDU TEAMING UP WITH SPIDER-MAN IN INFINITY WAR?! Streamed: July 28, 2017 Segments: * Actually Mad Libs – Dan's segment. The hosts play "mad libs" with negative comments viewers posted on the first episode of Flick Bait. Dan realized mid-way through that he probably should have blacked out the commenters' names, but, hey, that's what you get for posting things on a public forum. * All the Nerd References in Ready Player One – Spencer's segment. Spencer ironically claims the hosts are all fake nerds for not spotting a series of fabricated nerd references in the film Ready Player One, ''including facetious references to B-Rabbit's trailer from ''8 Mile, Babs Johnson from Pink Flamingos, and Dave Marshak's goggles from Ski School. * Dancin’ To The Andys – Joe's segment. Joe presents a fake infomercial for an exercise tape featuring footage of drunk Andy dancing on stage. The footage was secretly taped at Comic Con. * New Zealand Bargain Bin – Andy's segment. Over a number of rounds, the hosts choose between two bad movies. Ep 13: UPCOMING WONDER WOMAN PROJECT CANCELED?! Streamed: August 4, 2017 Segments: * Tony Revolori’s Two Truths and a Lie – Tony Revolori's segment. Tony tells wacky stories from the filming of Spider-Man: Homecoming, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Table 19 and Dope. * 1997 Usenet Discussion Board Posts – Spencer's segment. The hosts read angry nerd comments from 20 years ago regarding the wild possibility that the upcoming Star Wars prequels might be bad, Hugh Grant should be the next Spider-Man, why are all Marvel superhero films so bad? and an impassioned defense of Batman & Robin. * RIP Dark Tower News – Dan's segment. A montage of 10 years of contradictory The Dark Tower casting and production news and speculation, set to somber music. * Who’s that Wrestler Maybe? - Joe's segment. The hosts enthusiastically make up names for real wrestlers, despite being entirely ignorant of the sport. Ep 14: Is LADY STONEHEART Confirmed For GAME OF THRONES?! Streamed: August 11, 2017 Segments: * Famous Forehead - Sasha Perl-Raver's segment. The hosts stick post-its notes with the names of fictional characters on their forehead and ask questions about their identity * Movie Match Game – Dan's segment. Based on the 1970’s TV game show. Dan reads a sentence with one of the words blanked out. Joe fills in the blank. Spencer and Sasha try to match his answer. * Visit to the Hitman’s Bodyguard promotional training day - Joe's segment. Joe plays laser tag, drives a go kart, learns floristry, and despondently eats a fruit cup. * Making a movie in 3 minutes – Spencer's segment. The team go through all the stages of modern movie development against a ticking clock. They find an unused IP (Sharpies), secure Chinese financing, throw money at Will Smith until he agrees to star, pour cocaine into Brett Ratner’s nose until he agrees to direct, randomly recut the film after lackluster test screenings, secure a marketing deal with Weeties, and violently smash Rotten Tomatoes to protest poor reviews. Ep 15: Flashpoint-ing Ben Affleck's Career Streamed: August 18, 2017. This episode modified the Flick Bait formula. It didn't have a deliberately misleading title and it didn't start with a news round up. Instead, it began with a group game inspired by one news story. At the end of the episode, the hosts each shared one news story or link of interest. Segments: * Group game: Flash-pointing Ben Affleck's Career. The hosts pick a moment in Ben Affleck's career that they would go go back and change, if they had time travel. Spencer proposes that Afffleck should've quit Hollywood after Good Will Hunting and opened up a Boston crab shack. Jenny proposes that Elektra's sandbag training scene, and sexually charged playground fight scene from Daredevil should've been inserted into Batman v. Superman, with Superman playing the role of Elektra. * My Little Pony Challenge – Jenny Nicholson's segment. With a new My Little Pony movie opening up, Jenny sarcastically claims that the fandom will soon be flooded with fake bronies who are only pretending to like My Little Pony for female attention. She quizzes the others about their My Little Pony knowledge, to determine whether they are real fans or not. The hosts learn that there is a real episode of My Little Pony about a pop star pony who does the moonwalk who kidnaps all the baby ponies. * Who’s the Bad Guy Here? - Spencer's segment. The hosts must identify the “bad guy” in a series of photos from movies including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Inglorious Basterds, Schindler's List and Captain America: The First Avenger. Every picture contains a Nazi, but Spencer satirically claims that if the trolls on the internet are to believed, there's always two sides to every story. He says all the Nazis are bad, but ironically proposes that the other people in the photos are also doing "bad" things, such as smoking indoors and truanting school. Spencer concludes by sardonically suggesting, "I hope we’ve learned something today, that everyone is wrong on both sides and the truth is always exactly halfway between two opposing views." * Katana in Europe – Andy's segment. Andy accosts random tourists around the Eiffel Tower, and asks them to identify a Katana action figure. Only one person can. * Fact or Fiction - Dan's segment. A game. In each round, Dan reads the title and plot summaries of two movies. One is a real movie on Netflix, the other is made up. The others must correctly identify the real movie. Everyone is overjoyed to discover Pound of Flesh, ''an action movie a''bout a ex-black ops agent who wakes up in Manilla to discover his kidney has been stolen, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme is 100% real. Ep 16: 50 Actors Who Shouldn't Play The Joker Streamed: August 25, 2017. This episode didn't include any news stories. Segments: * Group game: 50 Actor Who Shouldn't Play the Joker. The team whittle down 50 bad casting possibilities to one in 3 minutes or less. They ultimately decide the worst possible person to play the Joker is Young Sheldon (the character, not the actor). * Real/Fake Christian Films – Joe's segment. Joe reads the plot summaries of 5 movies. The others must guess whether they are real Christian movies, or other movies he added Christian words to. The real Christian movies mentioned are C Me Dance, Fatal Flaw and War Room. The fake movies that Joe Jesusified are Flight of the Navigator and Spiceworld. * Hollywood - Dan's segment. Dan Murrell performs as the creatively bankrupt, heavily-cocained studio executive character who skulls Rockstar energy drink and Diet Coke at the same time. Hollywood thinks the others should stop complaining about the Joker prequel, because he's got dozens of even worse ideas like Penguin: Origins and 103 Dalmatians. He's not worried about the box office because he's got plans to take all his tired franchises to China: "China is where you go when you want to get p-p-p-p-p-paid. And yes, that is kinda racist, because I’m Hollywood, get used to it." Also, he cares very sincerely about women's issues and has the utmost respect for all women -- at least, he has since June when Wonder Woman made bank! * Scoops McD – Spencer's segment. Spencer performs as Michael McDonalds, aka Scoops McD, the esteemed 1970's jazz musician whose hobby is giving his 2 cents on entertainment news -- in the form of songs! Spencer sings three songs to express his smooth, soulful movie takes: "James Cameron in Kind Of A Tool", "What Are They Even Doing Over at DC?" and "They're Running Star Wars Into The Ground!". * Insane Movie Fights - Lon Harris's segment. A modified version of Movie Fights. The questions were: "What movie would be most improved by removing all the characters?", "If you had to find out a movie character had been having a torrid love affair with your Mom, who would you want it to be?" and "Would you rather that every movie for a year is about the Joker (but the character can be played by any/multiple actors) OR every movie for a year stars Jared Leto (but he can play any character)?" Billy Business fact-checked by providing non-sequitur alternate facts. The speed round consisted of a 7 second opening argument and a 22 second rebuttal. Ep 17: Worst Possible Star Wars Toys & Force Friday Unboxing! Streamed: September 1, 2017 Segments: * Group game: Worst Possible Star Wars toys. The hosts come up with the worst possible idea for Star Wars tie-in merchandise. Suggestions include: a Porkins action figure that comes with space ham and a sleep apnoea machine; Count Dooku's Sudoku; prequel playsets consisting entirely of empty rooms appropriate for long discussions about trade; the Revenge of the Sith midwife bot; and a Maz Kanata chocolate soft serve dispenser with nozzles in her butt-hole eyes. * Worst Force Friday: Star Wars toys unboxing - Andy's segment. Andy confesses he is only a casual Star Wars fan, but decided to check out Force Friday at target anyway. Unfortunately, the shelves were bare by the time he arrived. He unboxes several news Star Wars toys, including Star Wars fidget spinners, a Pretorian guard you can upskirt, and competing Kylo Ren and Rey tins of Campbell's soup, but remains utterly unimpressed. and Spencer Gilbert recreate the flirt-fight playground scene from 2003's Daredevil. '']] * Honest Scene – Spencer's segment. Spencer Gilbert and Lon Harris recreate the flirt-fight playground fight scene without the benefit of trained stunt performers, fancy camera work or editing. The seesaw bit turns out to be completely impossible under these conditions, so the just do a standing straddle over it and sweat a lot. Hot AF. * Trump Movies - Joe's segment. The movie ''Vice starring Christian Bale as Dick Cheney has just been announced. Joe proposes a series of movies based on the Trump presidency: a political thriller called The Manboy-churian Candidate, starring celebrated character actor Lynne Ramsey as Donald Trump, and Skeet Ulrich in the role of a lifetime as Vladimir Putin; a light-hearted rom-com called Carrying a Torch For You, ''starring celebrated character actor Lynne Ramsey as Donald Trump, and Skeet Ulrich in the role of a lifetime as a Klan leader; and the prequel ''Sex, Lies and Pee Pee Tape, starring celebrated character actor Lynne Ramsey as Donald Trump, and Skeet Ulrich in the role of a lifetime as the dad from Taken who just wants to protect his daughter. The fact that celebrated character actor Lynne Ramsey died in 1988 is, indeed, addressed. * Tracy Tuesdays - Dan's segment. Dan shows off his haul of Dick Tracy merch from the fictitious annual fan meet up event "Tracy Tuesdays." Tracey Tuesdays celebrate, as you probably already know, the 1990 Warren Beatty film Dick Tracy. They are conducted, of course, on the last Tuesday of August in Target parking lots across the country. Highly-sought-after merch includes, as you are no doubt aware, action figures of villain Big Boy Caprice, Tracy's partner Sam Catchem, a guy called Lips Manlis, and some dude in a yellow hat Dan forgot the name of. Dick Tracy fans call themselves, naturally, "Dickheads." Ep 18: Top Ten Best Batman Porgs! (Plus a Suicide Squad 2 Fantasy Draft) Streamed: September 8, 2017. First episode to feature a facetious "trigger warning" instead of a cold open. Segments: * Group game: Suicide Squad 2 fantasy draft. The hosts pull random action figures out of a tub to determine which new characters will join Suicide Squad 2. The team includes: Weird Al Yankovic, The Grinch, Jeff Goldblum, Ernie Hudson, The Mariner from Waterworld and NFL star Reggie. * SEO CEO – Dan's segment. Views for Flick Bait have been disastrously low and the SEO CEO is here to school Screen Junkies on search engine optimization. The SEO CEO's mantra is A.B.C. = Always Be Clicky. He claims people go on the internet for one thing, and one thing only: lists! He declares that all Screen Junkies videos must now be titled "Top 10 Best..." and then adds two trending topics seemingly at random: Batman and porgs! The SEP CEO changes the title of the episode mid-stream and does indeed countdown the top ten best Batman porgs. He warns the hosts, if Flick Bait doesn't juice the views, they'll "cancel all the others shows on this channel, make Honest Trailers twice a week, and make them three times as long." * What’s Eating Gilbert’s Grapes? – Spencer's segment. Spencer reads out five news topics. The others guess whether he is frustrated by them or not. The hosts signify that they think Spencer is frustrated by a topic by stuffing grapes into their mouths. A news story about Jared Leto "going blind" on the set of Blade Runner 2049 ''sends Spencer into a barbaric rage, during which the others are legitimately concerned he might choke to death on a grape. * Vegan Hunger Games – Andy's segment. Starting with a field of eight real celebrity vegans, the hosts vote on who would win in a fight, until only one victor remains. Ellen DeGeneres emerges as the victor because "I’ve honestly heard multiple first person accounts of people who have been in the presence of Ellen DeGeneres and felt mortal terror," "Ellen doesn't have a line she won't cross," "She's killed before, she'll kill again," and "Ellen's got a mass grave full of PAs somewhere." *Star Clowns Ep IX - Joe's segment with special guests Barnacle and JoJo the clowns. Just in: Colin Trevorrow is out as ''Star Wars Episode IX director. Never fear, because Barnacle and JoJo are here to take over. (Meanwhile, Dan covertly whispers into the mike "Mara, if you're watching, call 911."). Barnacle and Jo cast Dan as Snoke, Joe as Kylo Ren, Andy as Finn, and Spencer as Rey (Meanwhile, Dan slowly inches away from the circus performers until he is on the far edge of the table). Snoke and Rey have a brutal light saber battle using whatever's to hand: an empty beer bottle and a white board marker! Kylo reveals the twist: he is Rey's mother. Snoke reveals the double twist: he is Rey's father! The clowns ominously rise up out the dead zone and whisper, "You'll float too." (Meanwhile, Dan holds up a hand-written sign reading, "SEND HELP"). Ep 19: Worst Possible Game of Thrones Endings! Streamed: September 15, 2017 Segments: * Group game: pitching the worst possible Game of Thrones ending. Proposed endings include: The Sopranos ''ending (cut to black before a key conflict is resolved), the ''Lost ''ending (Westeros is actually like a cork floating on a pocket of energy), the ''Dragon Ball z ''ending (the last dragon is cut up into seven pieces and hidden in different parts of the world), and ''The Princess Bride ''ending (it was a story Peter Faulk was reading to Fred Savage). * Trump Fights - Joe's segment. A modified version of 'Movie Fights, based on real commercials and cameo movie appearances by Donald Trump. Questions: "What commercial appearance best prepared Trump for the presidency: Oreo's, McDonald's or Pizza Hut?" and "Which movie camero best captured the essence of Trump: Two Weeks Notice, Home Alone 2 or Little Rascals?" * Who’s That Shill? - Spencer's segment. Segment plays a series of sound clips from commercials. The others must guest which celebrity is doing the voiceover. * Behind The Scenes at the Emmys Party – Andy's segment. A video of Andy, Joe, Spencer and Dan at the Emmy Awards after party. Fresh off their second consecutive Emmy loss, they dance drunkenly, sing drunkenly, and visit the men’s room, also drunkenly. Joe twirls around near the Emmy's pee trough, and then a random drunk guy announces that he sometimes gets penis envy. The video ends with a very inebriated Andy dropping his phone and accidentally recording the inside of his pocket for 45 minutes. * Hollywood – Dan's segment. The return of the corporeal manifestation of Hollywood. Hollywood is elated by his recent box office triumph with Stephen King's It. Now he's making movies out of every clown-related property he can get his hands on! Struggling to stifle giggles, Hollywood recommends everyone sees mother! "It’s two hours of Darren Aronofsky jerking off with a noose around his neck." Ep 20: Predicting What's In The AVATAR SEQUELS (Also known as "Ultimate Avatar Sequel Wish List") Streamed: September 22, 2017 Segments: * Batman’s Soapbox – Andy rants while dressed as Batman. This is the only time Andy actually won the popular vote. * Doctor Huh? Spencer watched an episode of Doctor Who at random and attempts to summarize and review the entire series * Cards Against Aronofksy * Scoops Dundee – Joe Starr performs as an Australian gossip columnist. The gag is Joe only knows extremely stereotypical things about Australia. Ep 21: The 'DCEU™' Is (Literally) a Joke Streamed: September 29, 2017. No winner was ever announced because the show ceased production due to unforeseen circumstances. See the Andy Signore page for more details. Segments: * Group game: All the DC Movie Universes. After learning that the term DCEU was never an official term, the team decides to concoct their own terms for movies in the DC shared universe. With the entire slate of upcoming DC movies written on a whiteboard, the hosts group them into a series of absurdly convoluted categories such as the DCWWU (DC Wonder Woman Universe), the PFDCEU (Post-Flashpoint DC Extended Universe), the DCDKU (DC Dark Knight Universe), and the DCDKJKU (DC Dark Knight Joker Universe). * Young Sheldon Recap - Spencer's segment. Spencer uses clips of graphic violence from horror movies to illustrate key characters and events in the show. * The Cameron Test – Joe's segment. This week in the news, James Cameron reportedly criticized Wonder Woman for being a beauty icon, and therefore a step backward for female action heroes. In response, the hosts facetiously judge the sex appeal of all of James Cameron's female characters in the crudest way possible ("Do you have a boner?") in order to ironically point out Cameron doesn’t adhere to his own rules about what makes a strong female character. The hosts become momentarily distracted by the CGI alien water tentacle from The Abyss and discuss the merits of sex with a "water thingie." * Andy rants about Die Hard 6 ''- Andy's segment. Andy asks his co-hosts must pitch a better version of the movie. * Top 5 Best Worst Moments of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation - ''Dan's segment. Dan collected the humorous clips, including the infamous Beverly Crusher ghost sex scene from "Sub Rosa," while making the 'Honest Trailer for Star Trek: The Next Generation. See also * Movie Fights * The Screen Junkies Show * Screen Junkies Roasts * Interns of F.I.E.L.D. * Screen Junkies News * Honest Trailers External links * Flick Bait has a Fandom Wiki - It's not particularly good and hasn't been edited since September 2017, but there's always hope someone will discover it and breathe new life into it. 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